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The collapse of Supreme Court consensus
Washington ComPost ^ | Mar 21, 2022 | Philip Bump

Posted on 03/22/2022 3:53:57 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?

Once upon a time, a Supreme Court nomination was largely noncontentious. The general approach of the Senate’s advise-and-consent mandate was that the primary determination of who should earn a seat on the bench was determined by voters in the most recent presidential election. Nominees were often simply confirmed on a voice vote, sent by the Senate to lifetime appointments across the street with little debate.

As you probably noticed, that is no longer the case. Not only are voice votes extinct, so are broadly bipartisan confirmation votes. The last Supreme Court nominee to have received more than 70 votes was Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., nearly 20 years ago. The six justices confirmed since have averaged less than 60 — and the last three were confirmed thanks to the 2017 decision to make Supreme Court nominations exempt from the filibuster.

What’s happened is what’s happened to American politics broadly: Bipartisanship has declined as partisanship has increased.....

That’s in part because so few members of the opposing party now support a president’s nomination, so we have a more polarized Senate (particularly on the right) with fewer moderates who are crossing the aisle to support or oppose a president’s nomination.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: borked; confirmationhearing; judges; scotus
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" (particularly on the right) with fewer moderates who are crossing the aisle "

What crap! Who are the Dem senators crossing the aisle?

And which are the worst confirmation hearing?

#1 Bork #2 Kavanaugh #3 Thomas

None of the Dem SCOTUS come anywhere near those.

1 posted on 03/22/2022 3:53:58 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Agree - this is total BS.

It became a problem when DNC people like, oh I dunno... JOE BIDEN, politicized the process and tried to block Clarence Thomas nomination because he was a black man.


2 posted on 03/22/2022 3:58:09 AM PDT by Skywise
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Hasn’t been a consensus on the court for decades.


3 posted on 03/22/2022 3:59:46 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

The nomination was based on race. It is contentious in that it is not constiutional.


4 posted on 03/22/2022 4:00:04 AM PDT by gattaca ("Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." Ronald Reagan)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Back in the day.. before the Dems tried to destroy America by putting leftist NWO socialist anti-Constitution people in the court!


5 posted on 03/22/2022 4:02:02 AM PDT by high info voter (Delivery )
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To: where's_the_Outrage?
The Amazon Compost is channeling Saul Alinsky....yet again!
6 posted on 03/22/2022 4:12:09 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Covid Is All About Mail In Balloting)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

ROBERT BORK. THOMAS CLARENCE. Rat scum started the viciousness.


7 posted on 03/22/2022 4:17:22 AM PDT by BiglyCommentary
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Consensus was fine as long as the Democrats were getting their way. And I’m old enough to remember when Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Tom Daschle, Joe Biden, and Ted Kennedy were blowing up Republican nominations.


8 posted on 03/22/2022 4:32:52 AM PDT by Timber Rattler ("To hold a pen is to be at war." --Voltaire)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Ugh. Bump is just an awful writer.

He used to be good - about 15 years ago.


9 posted on 03/22/2022 4:34:42 AM PDT by Fury
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To: BiglyCommentary
Yes, the entire DSC is slouching towards Gomorrah.

The immediate solution to SCOTUS is UNPACKING the court.

Unpack the court from 9 to 1 justices.

SCOTUS decisions would then never be divided - they would always be 1 to 0 decisions. Chief Justice Clarence Thomas would write the Majority opinion.

Since Thomas is so thorough, he knows both sides of the issue, and could even write the minority opinion of the case, *if* there are any merits to it.

10 posted on 03/22/2022 4:36:51 AM PDT by C210N (Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.)
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To: C210N
Unpack the court from 9 to 1 justices.

And if that one justice is Sotomayor?

11 posted on 03/22/2022 5:05:47 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: where's_the_Outrage?
Once upon a time, a Supreme Court nomination was largely noncontentious.

Then along came Robert Bork and the Democrat's campaign to destroy him.

12 posted on 03/22/2022 5:16:57 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: DoodleDawg

In my hypothetical, was just outlining what *should* occur.

For ANY ONE of the other 8 to be the one justice is what *should not* occur.

It’s merely a hypothetical perfect solution to the immediate problem, and not meant as a ‘what if’ this or ‘what if’ that.


13 posted on 03/22/2022 5:28:26 AM PDT by C210N (Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

The Post has forgotten the high tech lynching if Clarence Thomas.


14 posted on 03/22/2022 5:41:02 AM PDT by Ge0ffrey
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

What’s happened is what’s happened to American politics broadly: Democrats have gone full retard


15 posted on 03/22/2022 5:44:41 AM PDT by Pxzftrnqfrn
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

eff bipartisanship.

It’s nearly destroyed the country.


16 posted on 03/22/2022 5:46:27 AM PDT by Mariner (War criminal #18)
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To: Yo-Yo

Teddy Kennedy wanted to destroy Bork. Ted was a big fan of abortion


17 posted on 03/22/2022 6:25:32 AM PDT by Nifster (I’m see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

I would hope that there would be even less consensus than there is now . . . more like ZERO . . . 0% for whenever a president who swears to protect and defend the Constitution nominates judges that are bent upon fundamentally changing the face of America.

In this matter, Lindsey Graham has shown himself to be anti-American (as well as every so-called “conservative” that votes to confirm.

On top of this, it appears that the latest nominee has a positive outlook toward legalizing child sexual exploitation.

Well, as the Lord warned us, “. . . as in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah . . .”


18 posted on 03/22/2022 6:35:06 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress (http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/BYTOPICS/tabid/335/Default.aspx D)
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To: Nifster

>>>Ted was a big fan of abortion<<<

No doubt because he has a fair share of “buns in the oven” . . . he considered abortion as his own personal prophylactic.


19 posted on 03/22/2022 6:37:42 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress (http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/BYTOPICS/tabid/335/Default.aspx D)
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To: Skywise

Biden isn’t against the black man . . . as long as they hate America as much as he does. His problem is with those uppity folks that want to preserve our Constitutional way of life.


20 posted on 03/22/2022 6:42:45 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress (http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/BYTOPICS/tabid/335/Default.aspx D)
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